THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 172, 22 July 1874, Page 2

THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

We are indebted to the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer for the following summary of the Budget spesch delivered last night:Mr Yogel made the Financial Statement ft th_Z?\ In the followin g «-~STf VrVn.7^?™ _ atcd i,J rouud numbers. Mr Yogel said that the Statetrent would not only be shorter than usual, but it wouS be unprecedented on account of tbe prosperity which it evinced. The State „e nt IS at an earlier period than had been customary a result for which he was iniebted to the untiring exertions of the Treasury officers. FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLONY. In preparing the accounts .ast year it was anticipated that the ac u;il results of 1872-73 would leave a surplus of £3,800 with which to begin the year, but it proved tbat there was a difference of £6000 as compared with wnat was anticipated. This arose partly throu gh under-estimating outstanding lia--iiKi a £ d partljr from fiome a"- 1 * -ot being realised, the result being that, instead of a | aurplusof . f 3^oo, there^rad^dencf of

between £2,100 and £2,200. As to the loan, it would be remembered that during the last session an announcement wag made that five per cent debentures to the amount of half a million had been gold at £2 10s premium. In January last the loan agents invited tenders for one million pounds at four and a half per cent. He had been favorable to the change to four per cent, but he approved of the action of the agents since they had inserted a condition thao the debentures might be retired at any time after five years. The half- million, borrowed at four and a half per cent- interest realised £98, and, making allowance for redeeming the discount, this was tantamount to borrowing at the rate of £4 12s 6d per cent. It was originally calculated that money for the Immigration and Public Works Policy wou'd have to be borrowed at five and a half per cent, it was gratifying therefore to know that the average rate of interest on the loans for those purposes yet negotiated, including allowance for recovering discount, amounted only to £4 I4s lid p r cent. It was right that he should say that the market for colonial loans was not so favorable last year as seemed to be then promised. There was now no demand for such debentures in the colonies. This arose through the demand for capital for local enterprise, but is had to be borne in mind in considering the question of the borrowing powers of the colony. The aggregate amount of the public debt, after deducting sinking fund accrued, was £12,500,000. and the annual charge was £777,000, of which £554,000 had to be paid by the colony, and £223,000 by the provinces. After explaining the position of the various loan accounts Mr Yogel referred to the land fund; this, he Baid, Bhewed a remarkably progressive increase. During the ytar 1869-70 the receipts, exclusive of gold revenue, were £209,000; in 1870 71, £208,000; in 1871-2, £336,000; in 1872-3, £889,642; and in 1873-4, £1,038,000. The Post Office Savings Bank account showed an increase of deposits of £137,000, the total deposits in those ban^s being now £682,000. The revenue of the paat year exceeded that of 1872-3 by £300,000, and it exceeded the estimated amount by £239,000. This result was very large, when the proportion it bore to tlie whole amount of the revenue was considered. THE TABIFP He could not state accurately tlio inert aae that had resulted from the substitution of ad valorem for measurement duties, as there had not yet been sufficient time to classify the returns, but there could be no doubt that the new duties produced more largely than the measurement duties. He was gla<l ot this both on account of the result, and on account of the testimony it bore to the honor and truthfulness of the commerci >1 clashes of the country. He emphatically expressed the opinion that taxation had not pressed harshly on the bulk of the people, and that, under the new system, the duties had been more evenly distributed over articles of luxury than was the case formerly. After deducting expenditure and liabilities, as well as allowing £20,0U0 for liabilities yet to come in, and paying off £45,000 of Treasury Bill?, there was a balance at the end of 1873-74 available for the service of the current year amounting to £247,000. PUBLIC WOKKS. After explaining at some length tho position of the railways, Mr Yogel said thit the revenue of the country wag incr -asing ho much, simultaneously with the introduction of immigrants and the prosecution of public works, that there could no longer be any doubt as to the aaeces* of the policy. The colony would be quite safe in taking over the main trunk lines of railway, whenever it tni«ht be found conve-ieit to do co, in rflieving the provinces from a'l liability on account of those lines. Apart from the revenue which it was now certain would be derived from the rnilwuys in excess of working expense?, ?tbe consolidated revenue of the colony had, during the last two years, increased by £412,000, or within a few thousand pounds of the total annual charge which the .railway*, when completed from one end of the colony tt the other, would Hitai'. It must be pointed out, however, that further authority for borrowing fo complete the rail*, .ya would hive to be given. However successful the Immigration and Public Works policy might be, it must be remembered that it wag necessary to meet the colonial requirements before straining the credit of the colony for other purposes, PROVINCIAL BORROWING. A consideration of the fact of the railways being pushed on more quickly than was origina'ly intended, and ot the fact that It was nit desirable t-» encourage too largely the construction of other works, impelled the Government to decide not to renew their proposals of last year as to Provincial harrowing. The Government were prepared to allow a limited amount of assistance . to the provinces, but eiich assistance was to be rendered through the Colonial Government, and to be charged either against the amount for the settlement of immigrants or upon the Consolidated Fund, but -with power to the Government tohsue Treasury bills if found necessary to meet it. As to the assistance to be given to separate provinces, Mr. Yogel said: "First, in regard to Auckland, the Government during the recess undertook to ask Parliament to allow the provi.ice to raise £50,000, to be advanced from time to time, extending over aperiol of abonfc three yea*g for works upon the Thames Goldfields The security in this case, besides that of the province, is of a special and large nature, and the importance of the object to be gained is not to he denied. The Government, Decides, agreed, subject to the approval of Parliament, to advance to Auckland, on security of one-half of its land revenue, lo be impounded for the purpose. £40 000, ia snros of £6,000 every three month*. The Government propoce to ask Parliament to carry out 'heir enj?ag<ment. We don't propose to ask f-r Auckland any further loan beyond the powr-r to devote some part of the Immigration Fund to objects dire:tly promotive of the settlement of immigrants. T-iranaki, with its sp'endid lands, offers a field for the location of immigrants second to none in the colony and we shall ask for power to advance money to aid so essential a work. Similarly we propose to devote some funds to Westland and to Nelson. In respect to these four provinces, it is to be remembered that they have not as yet enjoyed so mnch of the direct benefit from the expenditure on immigrants as they might be supposed to have the right to claim. Still, ' for money expended on works, we propose conditions for repayment, and I may add also that whist we shall require the approval of Provincial Governments to any work undertaken, we propose thst the works shall be carri' d out under the control, or with the approval, of the public works department What I have said of these other provin-es in respect to immigration applies equally to Ufarlborouah. We shall propose for works n connection with the location of immigrants, a" advance extending over two year<», besides a lorn of £4000 to bridge the Clarence river In regard to Wellington, hon members will no doubt have observed from the correspon ' rence that the Government during the recess orde&voured to induce the Provincial Government fo reduce ihe amount of borrowed moiey they desired. We ngreed to snbmit for SiiySM? ° f tbe Awwib to a Proposition to «TL Wd lngson t0 ohtltia * a of £66,000 on 80,000 acres of land to be opened to the free selection of small settlers. We ■hall Mktb't this plan re carried out I may also mention incidentally that we propose

Nelson a case is the most difficult to deal with. That province has long lagged behind in the race that other provinces have i an. It requires useful w^rks, of which it is singularly destitute, and we propose to lend to it on specific security £50,0 0 for work b_ which the Public Worses Dapcrtment approve. ' OTA GO. From Otago also, tin cry for borrowed money has come. We cannot see our way to at present sanction the sum that province asks for, unless by way of purchase of the Winton and Bluff line. If the Provincial Government are willing, we are prepared to propose to the As'embly to purchiße that [ railway at a valuation, the payment to be made in four equal instalments on the Ist of February next and the Ist February of the three following years, the money to be devoted to the construction of branch railways. Otherwise, in respect to Otago, an<Hn respect to Canterbury and Hawke's Bay, I have only to say we propose to continue their trunk railways, and to aid them in localising the immigrants they so wonderfully absord The Government proposed not to undertake any further goldfielda works until some of those already began had been completed. NORTH ISLAND. They proposed to appropriate an additional £60,000 for roads in the North Island and to continue the same plans as formerly by allocating to the Middle Inland provinces a iike amoant. Out of the sums that would thus become payable to Canterbury and Westland, it w«s proposed to put the road between Christchurch and Hokitika into good order. AUCKLAND, NELSON, AND WBSXLAND. As to the provinces, Mr Yogel said :— The case of the provinces is. not, however, dealt with by merely exceptional advances for [ public works. There are three provinces which labor under the great disadvantage of contributing largely to the colonial revenue, for whilst they make the contributions they enjoy out of their own revenue local expenditure (?) but the case of contribution has a constant disheartening tendency to the result so familiarly explained by the stamp of the bird which lays the golden eggs. As a mere question of policy it is wise in the midst of the immense increase of the colonial revenue to specialty remember some of the provinces which contrioute to it, and which are at present at a great (lisa ivantage as compared with other provinces. It is not wise to let parts of the colony languish under a sense of wrong, to allow them to feel they are still becalmed whilst the favoring breeze removed from their sight the vessels originally becalmed with them. The condition of the three provinces, of Auckland, Westland, and Nelson, as compared with the < ther provinces, is lamentable, and requires from the surplus of the consolidated revenue the attention of the Legislature. Auckland's case is far the worst. It will take that province some years to work itself round and to enjoy the future which I firmly believe is still before it. Westland deserves great sympathy; weighted wi-h a great public debt, ita Government, eagerly anxious to dcvelope it, find themselves hampered in every direction. Westland has prove! a mine of wealth to the colony and it is folly to desert it. The West Coast of Nelson is roraewhat similarly placed. Nelson will, however, now have the means, as it appears its rulers have the inclination, to use those means to become a prosperous province. These considerations impel us to recommend that out of the year's surplus special allowances, in addition to thit already provided by the scale of capitation allowances, be made to Auckland, Weatland, and Nelson at the rate of £25,000 to the first, £10,000 to the second, and £5030 to. the third. When hon. members study the whole of the circumstances they will not, I think, grudge the proposed aid. THE EXPENDITURE. Passing on to the expenditure for the current year, 1874-5, he said that the essential principal of this Budget was different from that of any previous one, its great object being to prevent the Government recrni ing revenues by resorting to borrowed moneys. In fact the present Budget had for its object to relieve the loans at the expense of the consolidated revenue. He proposed this year to take over and to charge upon the consolidate! revenue all the cost of interest, inclusive of interest upon worka in course of construction, for which other provision had been made. He proposed also to bear upon tre consolidated revenue half of the defence expenditure and half the amount to be paid as subsidies to Road Boards ; and further, he proposed to pay off an additional £100,000 of Treasury Bills. Taking into consideration the number of officers of the civil service who j were inclined to leave the service on account of opportunities to benefit themselves, and the hardship to which they were subjected through the increased cost of living, the Government hid decided to recommend, as a matter of expediency no less than of justice, that a special allowance should this year be made of ten per cent to all officers whose salaries did not exceed £150 a year, of 7£ per cent to all officers whose salaries exceeded £150, but did not exceed £300, and of five per cent to all those whose salaries exceeded £300 but d-d not exceed £500. do this would absorb £ 1 5 ,000 of the surplus. Add ing these various items to fhe amount of the Capitation grant, the special allowances to the pro vincea, as well as the ordinary expenditure and permanent charges, the total expenditure for the current year would be £1,638,000. This would include £271,000 to be devoted to the reduction of Treasury Bills current and to the payment of amounts which might, under exi-t--ing authorities, have been charged to loans, thus justifying the statement he had made that the main feature of the Budget was to relieve the loans at the expense of the consolidated revenue. IMMIGRATION AND PUBMC WOKKS. He would explain when he made bis immigration statement the further votes that would be required for immigration and for railway purposes His colleague, the Minister for Public Works, would in a day or two explain the various circumstances respecting the construction of the main trunk line?. He must, however, state that what he meant to include when he spoke of main trunk lines, which the colony would be justified in accepting as colonial lines, were those lines which had been already authorised, together with such other lines as would complete the existing gaps between Kaiparaand Auckland, New Plymouth, Napier, and Wellington, as we'l as those necessary to complete through communication between Picton, Nelson, Hokitika, North Canterbury, and the West Coast, THE REVENUE. The total revenue for the year, estimated with moderation, was £1,496,000. Adding to this the surplus with which the year was commenced, there would be a total of £1,704,000, and deducting the total expenditure there would be a surplus of £66,000. It must be remembered,' however, that the surplus was liable to be largely trenched upon by supplementary estimates. * CONCLUSION. In conclusion, Mr Yogel urged that while the country was confidently pursuing ita policy of progress, they should wisely husband its strength, anil not have larger recourse to borrowing than was absolutely necessary for carrying out the policy which the House and the people had adopted. Progress was then reported, and leave obtained to sit again, The Houafl adjoarned at half-past nine.